P s 



The Sower ahd Other Poems 





By Wifliam R McKenzi 




i ' ) J ' > J 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGf^ESS, 

Two Copies Received 

JUN 30 1903 

Copyiight tntry 
CLASS "J^ XXc, No. 

^^ (:> / 

COPY B. 







Copyyighf, J £89, 1891, 1903, 
bv V/iliia}7i P. McKemie, 



Vie fields of earth are sown. 
And many share in the yield. 

Souier, toiling alone, 

That the fields of the earth be sown. 

And joy for the race be known, 

May the Lord of the Harvest shield! 

The fields of earth are sown, 

How many share in the yield. 



The Sower 
and Other Poems 



PAGE 

Prologue 7 

The Sower 12 

With Peace like a River .... 14 

Love Seeking Beauty . . . . 16 

The Upward Look 18 

The Peace of God 20 

The Meek Shall Inherit , ... 22 

Harvesting 26 

An Enemy's Sowing ..... 28 

Torment Us Not 32 

Known by Its Fruit 34 

Opportunity 36 

Faith 38 

Life from the Dead 40 

When Hate is Blind 42 

Living Waters 44 

Ministry 46 

Temple-Building 48 

Gifts in Sleep 50 

Two Paths 52 

God's Tokens ...... 54 

A Song of Rest 56 

Afterthought ...... 59 



The Sower 








12 




ORN with thy toil, that seemeth 

unavailing, [reward ; 

Fear not, thou Sower, most sure is thy 
Wait till the end, for Justice is unfailing, 
Working the plans of Love, the 
heavenly Lord. 

Thine is not labor lustreless and weary, 
Toil spent for wages and reward of 
daily bread; [and dreary. 

Nor thine to scheme, with selfish thought 
Holding an abundance whereof no 
poor are fed. 

Sower thou art now, — foresee the joy 
of harvest. 
The hungry shall be fed with what 
thy hands supply ; 
Scatter free thy good seed, though for 
lack thou starvest, 
Love*s hundredfold of increase thy 
heart will satisfy. 



With Peace like a River 




14 




N its quiet valley, with tree-clad 
banks 
Miles and miles along, 
The river floweth and giveth 
thanks, 
Singing its quiet song. 



Gentle its flow o*er the sandy bed ; 

Ripples that gleam Kke smiles 
Give back the glow of the sun o*er-head. 

To think of in after-whiles. 



I would I could tell of a life I know. 
Reflecting ever the good, 

With peace and praise Kke a river's 
flow, — 
Making Love understood. 



Love Seeking Beauty 




16 




OVE seeking beauty finds in every place 
Some charm, unseen by sordid eyes, 

appear; 
For her the pageant of the passing 
year, — 
Elach marching day with glorious 
morning face, 
And farewell smile, when golden clouds 
enlace 
The peaceful West, — whose colors 

are brought near 
To lowly earth by flowers, in whose 
dear 
Heart-blessing faces present joy we trace. 

In times of storm, love knows the storm 

will pass ; 
Her heart at peace finds no storm 

enter in, [sight 

She hath no fears to cloud the present 
Of beauty ever, — beauty of the grass 
Refreshed by rain ; of humble ones 

from sin 
New-cleansed, reflecting heaven s 

gracious light. 



The Upward Look 




18 



l^^^p 


1 


1 



OILER and drudge, look up! 
The sky is blue, 
And clouds as white as 
wool 
Float lightly there ; 
The love-light of the heavens 

Is over you, 
And like a floating cloud 
Is all your care. 

Great peace have they who love 

The heavenly way ; 
The upward look of joy. 

The tender tone, 
Brighten the toilsome hours; — 

How bright a ray 
Of God's love-Kght springs up 

When love is sown. 



The Peace of God 




20 




APPY the man whose heart can rest, 
Sure that GoJs goodness ne*er will 
cease ; 
Each day, complete, with joy is blessed, 
God keepeth him in perfect peace. 

God keepeth him, and God is one, — 
One Life, forevermore the same. 

One Truth unchanged while ages run. 
Eternal Love His hoKest name. 

Dwelling in Love that cannot change, 
From anxious fear man finds release ; 

No more his homeless longings range, 
God keepeth him in perfect peace. 

In perfect peace, with tumult stilled, 
Enhavened where no storms arise. 

There man can work what God hath 
willed. 
The joy of perfect work his prize. 



The Meek Shall Inherit 





HEY crucified Lord Jesus, 
The people, in their madness 
Upsurged by priestcraft badness,- 
Hate of the pure and good. 



They who had cried, Hosanna, 
Stood round about him jeering : 
" This is no King's appearing. 
Nailed on the accursed rood. 

"Come down, thou great King Jesus, 
We then may call thee Saviour ! ** 
God-Kke was his behaviour. 
To his own teaching true. 

" Father,*' he kept repeating, 

With love divinely living, 
" Father, be thou forgiving, 

They know not what they do." 



The Meek Shall Inherit 




24 



THUS HE with power to blast them. 

Was heavenly in meekness ; 
They thought his patience weakness, — 
But strength divine was this. 

Strength to resist not evil 
* Mid devil-hate's assailing, 
To wait for Love's avaiKng, 
While the bitter cup was his. 

Through meekness he was victor ; 
He sought but to be lowly. 
Then God the ever-holy 
Raised him to life above. 

Thus man's true life was proven 
Unslayable, eternal. 
Joined with the Life supernal, — 
When hate was met Mith love. 



Harvesting 





ELL shall it be with the upright man, 
Well, ever well ; 
For the deeds of his mind are like 

the seed 
That grows and ripens for 
coming need; 
Hand's work comes back to the hand, 

they tell. 
Cease to do evil : leam to do well — 
For that is the heavenly plan. 

Light is sown for the righteous man. 

Light, heavenly light ; 
Mists may hang o'er the sproutless 

fields. 
And toil be long ere the good grain 

yields ; 
But the harvest brings the sower's 

reward 
In winnowed grain from the hand of 

his Lord 
Who purges all with his fan. 



An Enemy's Sowing 




28 




SOWED good wheat in the field, 
And labored under the sun ; 
But after the toil was done 
My senses by sleep were sealed, 
In the long, long wait for the yield. 

Unburdened by honest cares. 
An enemy, ever awake 
His uncaused hate to slake, 

Scattered his bag of tares 

On the earth late turned by the shares. 

The innocent, brown, ploughed earth, 
Mellowed by rain and sun, 
Knew not of the ill deed done, 
But nourished the seeds to birth 
That in harvest-time make dearth. 

When sleep I at last disown. 
And arise to labor with zest, 
The field with green is dressed ; 
But amidst the wheat upgrown. 
Are tares by the enemy sown. 



An Enemy's Sowing 




30 



JHE AWAKING came too late, 
For the clutching tares had bound 
Wheat-stalks with tendrils round ; 
Till the harvest my laborers wait 
To purge out the sowing of hate. 

In the yellow autumn days 
Red fires in the evening glow. 
And purple smoke hangs low, — 
'Tis the withered tares that blaze. 
Their smoke makes the lilac haze. 

Of the wheat I have reaped what was 
sown, 
With an increase thirty-fold. 
It is safe in the gamer's hold ; 
But an hundredfold shall be known 
When the field is for wheat alone. 



Torment Us Not 





3DEMON-HAUNTED man, when 
Christ passed by, 
Cried with a piteous voice, " What 

can there be 
Of kinship. Son of God, for me 
and thee, — 
I the most low and thou from the Most High ! " 
Then legion lusts urged from his lips the cry, 
" Before the time art come to torment me ? " 
But Jesus spake, — and from delusions free. 
In his right mind the man, redeemed, drew nigh. 



To-day*s outcries proclaim the demon fears 
Lest truth like flame reveal the warp of lies 
Where envy hastes to in-weave ill surmise. 
" Leave us alone ! for all our work of years 
If touched by truth would flash to smoke 

v^nd-blown. 
And nothing leave for hate to call its own." 



Known by its Fruit 




34 




E who desires with single mind 
To make the simple truth his 
rule, 
Cannot divide his thought to find 
His neighbor's fault or name him 
"fool- 



He like a husbandman is wise, — 

His trees are pruned, his vines are dressed, 
Till glowing fruit makes glad the eyes, 

And vintage proves his labor blessed. 

With double mind the Pharisee 

Exalts himself in unbased pride, 
By thinking all men worse than he ; 

Nor seeks with right to be allied. 

Shall one to holiness lay claim, 

Only because he can malign 
His brother-man, — so have the name 

Of righteousness without the sign ? 

The thorns within his vineyard grown, 

The nettles in neglected fields. 
The stone wall broken downi, make known 

How little good at last pride yields. 



Opportunity 




36 




E have seen the star ! rise and follow, 
Arouse thee, brother,*' the wise man 
said. 
" What, in the night? What wilt thou 
follow. 
By which of the twinkles in heaven's 
dim hollow 
Into the desert wilt thou be led ? " 



" We have seen the star, where star was never, 
Calling us, brother, in the Eastern dark ; 
This is the portent we follow, and ever 
We near the end of our life's endeavor, — 
Thou too canst see wouldst thou only mark ! 

" No star I'll follow, dim night is for sleeping, 
A phantom is this ye will follow too far ; 
Balms of the night my senses are steeping, — " 
The wise men departed, their faithful watch 
keeping. 
The unwise remained, but no more came 
the star. 




UT from the Empid waters of a lake 
A craggy island reared its tangled 

head; 
"No beauty there," a stranger 

would have said — 
But we who pressed and crackled 

through the brake 
Discovered there a pool all 

spangled bright 
With lily flowers ; naught else 

could grow 
From evil mire that turbid lay below 
Yet these looked to the sky 

with calm delight, 
Receiving thence the largess of 

the Sun 
That patient waiting from his rays 
I had won. 

And keeping golden wealth in 

chalice white. 
Thus faith from seeming e\'il heart 

may rise 
And be enriched with blessings 

from the skies. 
For unto those who trust, the Lord 

4s Light. 



Life from the Dead 





[ONG the dead too long have I 

been lying, 
Among the dead-alive whose 

hope is gone, 
Whose eyes with stupor greet the 
glowing dawn, 
Who know no longer merriment or crying, 
But one dull, even weariness of plying 
Unhonored, unrewarded labor, — wan 
As ghosts, unfeatured, they are drawn 
By pain to toil that brings no satisfying. 



Yet this an anguished dream must be, 
no more ; 
For in the silence something ever calls, 
Hinting of love, of beauty, joy to be ; 
And then hope trembles at the being's 
core, — 
' Tis faith in God makes freemen out of 
thralls ; 
By faith renewed true life comes back 
to me. 



When Hate is Blind 




42 




HAT shall I say to my cruel foe 
Who maketh his joy what 
hurteth me? 
This cry to God from my depth 
of woe, 
" Open his eyes that he may see ! 



Open his eyes to the heavenly law 

Which ever the triumph of good ensures, 

Till seeing God as the prophets saw, 
In his life God's radiant love endures. 



That he may see in his brother man, 
And love, God's likeness though faint 
the trace ; 

And cleanse from his thought all hate that can 
By anguish his brother's joy erase. 

When 1 pray for this my hurt is healed, 

The warrior strife is stilled in me ; 
Then I pray for love yet unrevealed, 
" Open my eyes that I may see 1 " 



Living Waters 





HEN *neath the palms, glad of 
oasis-rest, 
The swarthy children of the desert 

dwell, 
This legend of the past the elders tell — 
How once a spring refreshed an 

angel-guest, 
And God so gave it life at his request 
That where its precious drops on hot 

sands fell 
A gushing water-spring would swift 
upwell, 
And wanderers of the barren plain 
be blessed. 



One there was 6nce who dwelt upon 

the earth. 
Who unto men the living water 

brings. 
Whereof receiving, in a land of dearth 
Where'er we go we may sow 

water-springs; 
Soon shall the whole wide earth his 

witness know. 
And water brooks in every desert flow ! 



Ministry 





F Kings would control 

the multitude in masses, 
Love serves the needy where one 
the blessing craves ; 
Blind Bartimaeus' cry the Christ 
hears as he passes, 
And pausing for the one man, 
one man more he saves. 

Seekest thou some great thing ? 
Let thy heart not cherish 
Aught to obscure thy nighest 
chance to bless ; 
Forget not the many and love them 
lest they perish. 
Yet surely save the one lamb 
from the wilderness. 



Temple-Building 




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IS builders wrought for Solomon, 
And hewed the cedar trees ; 
They squared the beams in 
Lebanon, 
And bare them over-seas. 

The quarry-tools of GebaFs men. 
And Sidon's axe-men, rest — 

First came their shaping-toil, 
and then 
Its place for what is best. 

For there on Mount Moriah*s height, 
Silent, the one thought shows ; 

Great beams and stones are fitted 
right. 
Like petals in a rose. 

In squaring now her temple-stones 
Love keeps alone the good ; 

By cleavage of man's pride 
atones. 
Then compacts brotherhood. 



Gifts in Sleep 





HY building thou wouldst have 
all men extol, 
But God alone thy life can edify ; 

With endless skill thine art thou 
mayest ply, 

With peering eyes search ancient law 
and scroll. 
And mete thyself of sleep a meager dole, 
Rising to toil at dawn with deep-drawn sigh, 
Taking so late thy rest, but not thereby 
Comes growth and life's enlargement 
to thy soul. 



Why do thy wakeful burning eyes refuse 
The balm and healing of His nightly dews ? 
For growth and strength what need to pray 
and weep 
When it is thine if thou wilt only choose? 
Rest in His love, no vigils weary keep, 
"He giveth unto His beloved in sleep ! *' 



Two Paths 





APPY the man who gives no heed 
When men of wicked minds 

would lead, 
Who will not for ill-counsel stand, 
Nor with the scornful join his hand; 
God's law in thought is his delight, 
And comforts him by day and night. 



His life is fruitful like the tree 
Rooted where water-streams flow free. 
Whose leaf no drought of summer 

knows, 
Whose luscious fruit to ripeness grows; 
Thus good by every season brought 
Prospers the good man's act and thought 

But men ungodly are not so ; 

like idle chaff blown to and fro 

By harvest v^nds, so disappear 

The plans they cherish, and with fear 

They find that sin in ruin ends, 

While God the righteous man befriends. 



God's Tokens 





O bright this May-time round me 
I behold 
The tokens of God's love ; 
The green grass shines with 

heaven's gold, 
Blossoms are white above. 



White are the floating clouds that sail 
the blue, 
Swept by the wind's delight ; 
Bird-singing weaves its joy-gleams 
through 
The thrilling rays of light. 

A little child, as lowly as the grass. 
Sings of His watchful care ; 

White orchard blooms, white clouds 
that pass. 
Join with the gentle prayer. 



A Song of Rest 





AM only a child, who is lying 

In the bosom of infinite Love ; 
I speak not of living or dying, 
1 know not of sorrow and crying, 
My thoughts are dwelling above. 

The spring of the life that is flowing 

Is hidden with Christ in God ; 
Not yet the mystery knowing, 
I feel that the peace is growing 
As a river grows deep and broad. 

All I need, without price I am 
buying 
By my trust in the Goodness 
above ; 
There's an end to my yearning and 

sighing. 
For just like a child I am lying 
In the bosom of infinite Love. 




When the fields are rustling geld 

With the full grain in the ear. 
Is the Sower not consoled? — 
When the fields are rustling gold 
And the Reaper's joy is told, 

For the Harvest Home is near; 
When the fields are rustling gold 
With the full wheat in the ear. 




THB TITLE-PAGB AND INITIAL L8TTBRS 
IN THIS BOOK WERE DESIGNED AND 
DRAWN BY MISS E, H. MCLAUTHLIN. 
THB TYPE CHOSEN IS CHELTENHAM OLD 
STYLE, DESIGNED BY BERTRAM GROS- 
VBNOR GOODHUE. 

THB PRINTING IS BY THE SPARRHLL 
PRINT, BOSTON. 

THB BINDING IS BY THE BOSTON BOOK- 
BINDING COMPANY, IN CAMBRIDGE. 



N 30 1903 



